Dreaming away the day on Zanzibar: Coral reefs, colonial history and chic cuisine on Tanzania's grand slice of ocean paradise
- Pitched 25 miles east of Tanzania, Zanzibar is an Indian Ocean haven
- The island is rich in cultural heritage from both the Omani and British eras
- It has a reputation for backpacker tourism - but also has luxury enclaves
- A-list couple Amal and George Clooney stayed on the island last summer
George
Clooney and his wife Amal checked into one of the new hotels on Zanzibar
last summer - a boutique retreat hidden down a sandy path leading to an
indigo ocean.
This
celebrity endorsement is significant. It confers on an island where
sultans once ruled a kind of Papal blessing; a dash of A-list stardust.
Until
a few years ago, Tanzania's feted Indian Ocean island was largely seen
as a destination for backpackers, albeit one with an intriguing history
as an outpost of British colonial rule. David Livingstone used it as a
base in his search for the source of the Nile.
A blue-sky portion of paradise: Zanzibar offers beaches where the beauty of the scenery is astounding
I
have neither the great explorer's wanderlust, nor the Hollywood actor's
star quality - but I, too, am lured by Zanizbar's reputation for being
untouched.
Rising
at daybreak to walk along a deserted beach to the northerly fishing
village of Nungwi, I watch fishermen still at work, hauling in a night
catch of slippery, silver tuna and marlin: air still in their gills,
nets around their fins.
As
the sun climbs, the fishermen shelter under palm trees to mend their
nets. Women arrive at low tide, wearing brightly coloured kangas —
kimono-like wraps — to collect seaweed to be made into creams. There are
no jet-skis or kite-surfers.
Zanzibar
is located 25 miles off the coast of Tanzania and six degrees south of
the Equator. But it basks in a comfortable average year-round
temperature of 28C. It is ringed by coral reefs and talc-soft sand that
separates coconut forests from the sea.
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